A Featherbrained, Muddle-headed, Nonsensical, Silly Poetry Anthology for Children:

Alphabetically Arranged
By Dakiri Burkhardt

Table of Contents Introductory Note -----------------------------------------------------------------------The Aliens Have Landed! By Kenn Nesbitt -----------------------------------------The Alligator By Mary Macdonald ---------------------------------------------------Billy Batter By Dennis Lee -------------------------------------------------------------The Cows Complaint By Alice Schertle ---------------------------------------------Danny O'Dare By Shel Silverstein ----------------------------------------------------Dickery Dean By Dennis Lee ----------------------------------------------------------Dont Bring Camels in the Classroom By Kenn Nesbitt -------------------------February By Mary Ann Hoberman ---------------------------------------------------Gumeye Ball By Shel Silverstein------------------------------------------------------Instructions for Growing Poetry By Tony Mitton --------------------------------The Land of Bumbly Boo By Spike Milligan ----------------------------------------No Need to Light a Night-Light By Anonymous ----------------------------------The NO-NO Bird By Andrew Fusek Peters -----------------------------------------The Spice of Life By Brod Bagert -----------------------------------------------------Topsy-Turvy World By William Brightly Rands -----------------------------------Two Witches By Alexander Resnikoff -----------------------------------------------What I Found in My Desk By Bruce Lansky ----------------------------------------The Worm By Ralph Bergengren -----------------------------------------------------Your Birthday Cake By Rosemary Wells --------------------------------------------Bibliography -------------------------------------------------------------------------------2-5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25-26

Introductory Note
Childrens poetry is not just literature, it is an experience. The words should grab the readers attention as soon as possible, while painting vivid imagery in their minds. Poetry is already facing a losing battle since so many students have a negative attitude towards poetry. For this very reason, I have decided to choose a silly, light-hearted tone for my poetry anthology. Looking back to when I was in elementary school, my teachers introduced poetry units with a funny, silly, or light hearted poem that got my classmates and I interested. This tactic allowed us to view poetry as fun and exciting, rather than boring and dull. I want to teach the lower grade levels of elementary school, so I chose poems that I thought were appropriate for such an age range. Because the silly tone is constant throughout, I have chosen to arrange my pieces alphabetically by title. This just emphasizes alphabetical order, another skill that elementary students are expected to master. I believe that childrens poetry should encompass humor, elements of fantasy, playful language, rhyme, simple ideas, and content based on familiar experiences. Humor is an important element of childrens poetry because it is something that most children can understand. To me, humor involves having silly or funny settings, characters, or actions in the poem. Many of the poems I chose for this anthology made me giggle as I read them; for that reason alone, I read them more than once. Having humor in a poem makes a poem interesting and entertaining for young students. In elementary school, the main purpose of poetry is not analytically dissecting each line to find the greater meaning and understanding of each word. Most of the time, poetry is used to introduce various lessons from a range of subjects. Poetry is just another way to get students to practice their reading skills and to strengthen phonemic awareness, pattern recognition, and word

family identification. If students are not engaged in the poem, there is no way they will be obtaining those skills needed for future grade-levels and life beyond the classroom. Elements of fantasy ties into humor because many silly or funny childrens poems are about wild fictional characters in unrealistic settings doing unbelievable actions. This allows for students to use their imagination and opens the door for writing prompts or class discussions that will help them strengthen their creativity. Many elementary-aged students still believe in characters like Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, aliens, wizards, and talking animals. Even if they do not, it is always fun to leave reality and escape into a fantasy world where anything is possible. Playful language also builds off of humor and elements of fantasy. I think it is important to have playful language in a childrens poem because the playful words usually enforce rhyming and allow students to be silly. It is much more engaging to read about Mr. Biggen-Boggums Brown Bazzinga than Mr. Bills Box. When poetry incorporates playful language, it is allowing students to explore what are real words and what are not, what are real creatures and what are not, what are real places and what are not. One of my field teachers did an entire lesson on a poem and had students fill out a chart of real words and fake words. Because the poem had playful language and was silly, the students were excited to do the task. Rhyme is another aspect that childrens poetry should have because, once again, it allows students to strengthen phonemic awareness, pattern recognition, word family identification, and so much more. Students benefit tremendously from poetry with rhyming. When it these poems are read aloud, they are able to hear the emphases on the words and syllables and which words rhyme. This helps students to realize that all rhyming words are not spelled exactly the same, but

the letter combinations can still form the same sounds. Additionally, rhyming poems are just so much more entertaining to small children than poems that do not rhyme. Childrens poetry should have simple ideas because many elementary-aged students do not have the prior knowledge to mentally figure out abstract ideas. If childrens poetry contains characters, settings, or actions that are too complex, they can become frustrated, confused, and start to develop that negative attitude towards poetry that many teachers are constantly battling. This is where the last quality of childrens poetry, content based on familiar experiences, comes into play. Childrens poetry works best when written about topics that students have background knowledge or experience with. Children enjoy poems about animals, fairies, family, friends, school, playing outside, food, and any other familiar experience or idea. Once students are able to relate to the topic of the poem, they are forming bridges from their personal experiences to the poems. These connections help to lay the foundation for all of the skills that poetry helps students to develop; if they understand and enjoy what they are reading or hearing, than they will be more likely to easily understand and comprehend the various reading skills and information coming from that particular piece. Of all the pieces I have chosen for my anthology, The Land of Bumbly Boo encompasses all of the previously mentioned elements necessary for a childrens poem. The poem has silly characters, in silly places, doing silly actions, which leads to capturing elements of fantasy. Obviously, there is no such land of Bumbly Boo and cats do not wear clothes made of pumpkin and pelican glue. But, in each stanza, this poem is giving students the opportunity to strengthen their phonemic awareness through rhyme, while allowing them to escape to a made-up world. Students would definitely be engaged if this poem was read aloud to them, and depending on

their age, would be able to read this poem to themselves. The playful language is not too farfetched or complicated to understand; it has just enough playfulness to keep students engaged. This piece also shows that poetry does not have to have a meaning or make sense; poetry is about the experience one gets while travelling through each word, line and stanza. A teacher could have students illustrate their experience through the poem by drawing or painting their favorite part of the poem. This allows students to be creative and use their imagination. Overall, this poem is a great example of what I think childrens poetry should encompass.

The Aliens Have Landed! By Kenn Nesbitt The Aliens Have Landed at Our School! The aliens have landed! Its distressing, but theyre here. They piloted their flying saucer Through our atmosphere. They landed like a meteor Engulfed in smoke and flame. Then out they climbed immersed in slime And burbled as they came. Their hands are greasy tentacles. Their heads are weird machines. Their bodies look like cauliflower And smell like dead sardines. Their blood is liquid helium. Their eyes are made of granite. Their breath exudes the stench of foods From some unearthly planet. And if you want to see these Sickly, unattractive creatures, Youll find them working in your school; They all got jobs as teachers.

The Alligator
By Mary Macdonald The Random House Book of Poetry for Children The alligator chased his tail Which hit him on the snout; He nibbled, gobbled, swallowed it, And turned right inside-out.

Billy Batter
By Dennis Lee Talking Like the Rain: A Read-to-me Book of Poems Billy Batter, Whats the matter? How come youre so sad? I lost my cat In the laundromat, And a dragon ran off with my dad, My dad A dragon ran off with my dad! Billy Batter, Whats the matter? How come youre so glum? I ripped my jeans On the Coke machine, And a monster ran off with my mum My mum A monster ran off with my mum! Billy Batter, Now youre better Happy as a tack! The dragons gone To Saskatchewan; The monster fell In a wishing-well; The cat showed up With a new-born pup; I fixed the rips With potato chips, And my dad and my mum came back, Came back My dad and my mum came back!

The Cows Complaint By Alice Schertle A Kick in the Head How unkind to keep me here When, over there, the grass is greener. Tender blades so far, so near How unkind to keep me here! Through this fence they make me peer At sweeter stems; what could be meaner? How unkind to keep me here When, over there, the grass is greener.

Danny O'Dare By Shel Silverstein Falling Up, 1996 Danny O'Dare, the dancin' bear, Ran away from the County Fair, Ran right up to my back stair And thought he'd do some dancin' there. He started jumpin' and skippin' and kickin', He did a dance called the Funky Chicken, He did the Polka, he did the Twist, He bent himself into a pretzel like this. He did the Dog and the Jitterbug, He did the Jerk and the Bunny Hug. He did the Waltz and the Boogaloo, He did the Hokey-Pokey too. He did the Bop and the Mashed Potata, He did the Split and the See Ya Later. And now he's down upon one knee, Bowin' oh so charmingly, And winkin' and smilin'--it's easy to see Danny O'Dare wants to dance with me.

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Dickery Dean By Dennis Lee Talking Like the Rain: A Read-to-me Book of Poems Whats the matter With Dickery Dean? He jumped right into The washing machine! Nothings the matter With Dickery Dean He dove in dirty, And he jumped out clean!

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Dont Bring Camels in the Classroom By Kenn Nesbitt The Aliens Have Landed at Our School! Dont bring camels in the classroom. Dont bring scorpions to school. Dont bring rhinos, rats, or reindeer. Dont bring mice or moose or mule. Pull your penguin off the playground. Put your python in a tree. Place your platypus wherever you think platypi should be. Lose your leopard and your lemur. Leave your llama and your leech. Take your tiger, toad, and toucan anywhere but where they teach. Send your wombat and your weasel with your wasp and wolverine. Hide your hedgehog and hyena where youre sure they wont be seen. Please get rid of your gorilla. Please kick out your kangaroo. No, the teacher didnt mean it when she called the class a "zoo."

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February By Mary Ann Hoberman http://www.maryannhoberman.com/poems_var1.html February, funny word, With my "r" that's hardly heard, Different in so many ways, I'm the month with fewest days; And another thing that's strange is I'm the only month that changes: Every leap year - one in four I am given one day more, Twenty-nine from twenty-eight (Not so easy to keep straight). Still it's lots of fun to vary I like being February!

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Gumeye Ball By Shel Silverstein A Light in the Attic, 1981 Theres an eyeball in the gumball machine, Right there between the red and the green, Lookin at me as if to say, You dont need any more gum today.

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Instructions for Growing Poetry By Tony Mitton

http://www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=16589

Shut your eyes. Open your mind. Look inside. What do you find? Something funny? Something sad? Something beautiful, Mysterious, mad? Open your ears? Listen well. A word or phrase Begins to swell? Catch its rhythm, Hold its sound. Gently, slowly Roll it round. Does it please you? Does it tease you? Does it as To grow and spread? Now those little Words are sprouting Poetry Inside your head.

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The Land of Bumbly Boo By Spike Milligan

http://www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=7514

In the Land of the Bumbly Boo The people are red, white, and blue They never blow noses Or ever wear clotheses What a sensible thing to do! In the Land of the Bumbly Boo You can buy lemon pie at the zoo They give away foxes In little pink boxes And bottles of dandelion stew. In the Land of the Bumbly Boo You never see a gnu But thousands of cats Wearing trousers and hats Made of pumpkin and pelican glue. Oh the Bumbly Boo! The Bumbly Boo! Thats the place for me and you! So hurry lets run The train leaves at one For the Land of the Bumbly Boo The wonderful Bumbly Boo Boo Boo The wonderful Wumbly Boo!

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No Need to Light a Night-Light By Anonymous Heres a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry Youve no need to light a night-light On a light night like tonight, For a night-lights lights a slight light, And tonights a night thats light. When a nights light, like tonights light, It is really not quite right To light night-lights with their slight-lights on a light night like tonight.

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The NO-NO Bird By Andrew Fusek Peters Heres a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry Im the no-no bird, Thats right, thats me. I live up in The Tantrum Tree. Im the no-no bird, I wont say why I stamp my feet And shout and cry. Im the no-no bird! I sulk and sing No! No! No! To everything!

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The Spice of Life By Brod Bagert Shout! Little Poems that Roar Ketchup, ketchup on my fries, Oh so pretty to my eyes, On my fingers, on my face, I like ketchup everyplace. Ketchup chips, ketchup cheese, Ketchup soup, ketchup peas, Ketchup dogs with ketchup fleas, Give me ketchup if you please. Listen no to what I say, This could be a perfect day, Oh, the strength! Oh, the power! Let me take a ketchup shower. Ketchup cheese, ketchup fries, Ketchup lipstick on my lips, Ketchup peas, ketchup soup, Gooey, gooey, ketchup goop! I like ketchup, thick and nice, Ketchup is a perfect spite. KETCHUP!

KETCHUP!

KETCHUP!

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Topsy-Turvy World By William Brightly Rands The Classic Book of Best-Loved Childrens Poems If the butterfly courted the bee, And the owl the porcupine; If churches were built in the sea, And three times one were nine; If the pony rode his master; If the buttercups ate the cows; If the cat had the dire disaster To be worried, sir, by the mouse; If mama, sir, sold the baby To a gipsy for half-a-crown; If a gentleman, sir, was a lady, The world would be upside-down! If any of all of these wonders Should ever come about, I should not consider them blunders, For I should be inside-out!

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Two Witches By Alexander Resnikoff The Random House Book of Poetry for Children There was a witch The witch had an itch The itch was so itchy it Gave her a twitch. Another witch Admired the twitch So she started Twitching Though she had no itch. Now both of them twitch so its hard to tell which Witch has the itch and Which witch has the twitch.

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What I Found in My Desk By: Bruce Lansky No More Homework! No More Tests! A ripe peach with an ugly bruise, A pair of stinky tennis shoes, A day-old ham-and-cheese on rye, A swimsuit that I left to dry, A pencil that glows in the dark, Some bubble gum found in the park, A paper bag with cookie crumbs, An old kazoo that barely hums, A spelling test I almost failed, A letter that I should have mailed, And one more thing, I must confess, A note from teacher: Clean This Mess!!!!

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The Worm By Ralph Bergengren The Random House Book of Poetry for Children When the earth is turned in spring The worms are fat as anything. And birds come flying all around To eat the worms right off the ground. The like worms just as much as I Like bread and milk and apple pie. And once, when I was very young, I put a worm right on my tongue. I didnt like the taste a bit, And so I didnt swallow it. But oh, it makes my mother squirm Because she thinks I ate that worm!

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Your Birthday Cake By Rosemary Wells Heres a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry Your birthday cake is made of mud Because I cannot cook. I cannot read a recipe or follow in a book. Im not allowed to use the stove To simmer, roast, or bake. I have no money of my own to buy a birthday cake. Im sure to get in trouble if I mess around with dough. But Ive made your birthday cake out of mud Because I love you so.

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Bibliography
Bagert, Brod, and Sachiko Yoshikawa. Shout!: Little Poems That Roar. New York: Dial for Young Readers, 2007. Print. Carpenter, Stephen, and Bruce Lansky. No More Homework! No More Tests!: Kids' Favorite Funny School Poems. Minnetonka, MN: Meadowbrook, 1997. Print. Hoberman, Mary A. "Mary Ann Hoberman Poems." Mary Ann Hoberman Poems. N.p., Feb. 2005. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. Janeczko, Paul B., and Christopher Raschka. A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2005. Print. Kennedy, X. J., Dorothy M. Kennedy, and Jane Dyer. Talking Like the Rain: A Read-to Me Book of Poems. Boston: Little, Brown, 1992. Print. Mattingly, Virginia, and Nicky Cooney. The Classic Book of Best-loved Children's Poems. Philadelphia: Courage, 1997. Print. Milligan, Spike. "The Land of the Bumbly Boo by Spike Milligan - Children's Poetry Archive." The Land of the Bumbly Boo by Spike Milligan - Children's Poetry Archive. N.p., 1997. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. Mitton, Tony. "Instructions for Growing Poetry by Tony Mitton - Children's Poetry Archive." Instructions for Growing Poetry by Tony Mitton - Children's Poetry Archive. N.p., 1998. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.

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Nesbitt, Kenn, and Margeaux Lucas. The Aliens Have Landed at Our School! Minnetonka, MN: Meadowbrook, 2001. Print. Prelutsky, Jack, and Arnold Lobel. The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. New York, NY: Random House, 1983. Print. Silverstein, Shel. Falling Up: Poems and Drawings. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1996. Print. Silverstein, Shel. A Light in the Attic. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1981. Print. Yolen, Jane, Andrew Peters, and Polly Dunbar. Here's a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2007. Print.

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